Sealing devices of this type are used in particular to effect an oil-tight seal on the through-hole for a connector in the wall of a gearbox housing. Because the connectors which pass through the wall of the gearbox housing have fixed connections to electronic circuits on the inside of the housing, the longitudinal axis of the connector does not always coincide with the longitudinal axis of the through-hole. The familiar way of sealing the through-hole in spite of this eccentricity is to provide a very large and soft circumferential seal around the connector, which can largely accommodate the eccentricity between the connector and the housing.
A disadvantage of this familiar sealing device is the unequal distribution of the sealing force around its perimeter, between the connector and the housing. Furthermore, very high total forces are required to ensure an adequate seal.
For this reason, connectors have been developed which can be mounted concentrically in the through-hole. However, these require an expensive mechanical compensation mechanism in the mechanical connector system.